Digital Doesn’t Matter: Reinventing The Advertising Industry – Why I love this idea

I’ve always been a big fan of the concept behind Napoleon Hill’s Law Of Success, or the more recent Education of Millionaires book. Both of them set out on a journey to interview the world’s greatest minds, examine what they do and how they think, and then compile it into far easier to consume, relevant bits of information. Almost like a cheat sheet to success.

That’s what Heresy decided to do with this book, Digital Doesn’t Matter: Reinventing The Advertising Industry. Shot into action by the slow dying of the advertising industry they so dearly loved, authors John Lambie and Josh Sklar spent 6 months interviewing over 100 of the top CEOs, executives, directors and journalists in the advertising and marketing industry, including people from Google, Ogilvy & Mathers, Nike, Dell, Y&R, and more.

This book looks to be a go-to resource for any person remotely interested in marketing, advertising, or PR that wants to know how to make it as we try to smoothly and effectively transition these fields into the digital era. Covering a broad, but very specific set of topics such as:

• Marketing Strategy
• Account Management
• Strategic Planning
• Data Analysis
• Social Media
• New Business Development
• Talent Development
• Recruitment
• And far more

All of that though, is only half of the reason I’m excited about this book. At another angle, this book, while available in PDF, Kindle, and hardcover form, seeks to hit a whole new level of dynamic interaction with the reader through a mobile app. Imagine if while you were reading your favorite book, let’s say Harry Potter for now (I hear it’s pretty popular), that you could comment and talk to other readers while reading your favorite sections, skip to only the parts that talk about dragons (or Cerberus, ogres, unicorns, etc.), share your own stories, provide immediate feedback to the author for her next book, give ideas, and read stories from either her or other readers that continually give insights into the world.

That’s the kind of groundbreaking concept this book looks to achieve. People will be allowed to comment, annotate, submit stories, provide feedback, and offer ideas. The app will be forever changing and updated, with the authors providing case studies, research, extra education, as well as a community to discuss what’s happening, connect people with mentors, vent anonymously, and critique the latest ads. Innovative and ambitious, to say the least.

Now, the real kicker with this? It’s not one of those things you get psyched about, look at, then wait around for 2 years while the groundwork occurs. Heresy is looking at obtaining funding by early March, and then having all of this delivered by June of this year. If this is something you want to get involved in, you can view their Kickstarter page and their Facebook page.

I hear those who donate early and keep posted on Facebook may get some special opportunities for a sneak peek at the book. I’m certainly in for a few bucks just to help see this be realized.